The Student Room Group

MEDICINE - *RESULTS DAY 2015* - AS Level Results Discussion & Advice

Use this thread for any discussion and questions related to AS results you have received.

Are
Check out our Wiki page on entry requirements for each UK medical school, as well as the page on Applying to Your Strengths . This will give you an idea of which schools place a greater level of importance on AS grades.


Not
Bad AS grades will not necessarily kill your medical application. It is still unclear how many universities use AS grades and as long as your school can predict you A*AA/AAA (and you can ACHIEVE A*AA/AAA) then your application stands a chance. You can resit AS modules in your A2 year in order to pull your grades up, though bear in mind that now there are no January resits this will add to your burden of exams in June.

Take a look at this information page here for what prospects you may have with poor AS grades: http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/wiki/Medicine_Prospects_for_Students_with_%27Poor%27_AS_Grades


Carrying
You're expected to carry on a minimum of 3 subjects to A2. To maximise the number of schools that you meet the entry requirements for, ensure that these three include Chemistry and Biology.
If you wish to carry on all 4, make sure that this will not be detrimental to your overall grades - AAA is always better than AABB, and if you enter 4 subjects on your UCAS form the medical school can make you an offer based on all four grades. If you subsequently drop a subject after your UCAS form is submitted, you need to inform UCAS and the medical schools, and any offer made can be rescinded since you would be changing the information that they made your offer based on. The only schools were you will benefit from taking 4 A levels are Oxbridge (where many candidates offer 4 subjects as standard) or Barts & The London (where the tariff points ranking system favours more subjects).


CashingState schools have to cash in AS results or risk big fines. This means you will have to declare your AS results on your UCAS application, and so you won't be able to hide poor AS results behind good A2 predictions. Medical schools take your AS grades into consideration or use them as an indicator of how accurate your A2 predictions are. Generally, a prediction above AS grade + 1 would be considered excessive.

Private schools have the choice of cashing in or not; however, note that most private schools do cash in AS grades. Schools also put on their references whether or not it is their policy to cash in AS grades, and if you decide not to declare your AS grades but it is your school policy to declare them then that is not going to reflect well on your application.


Any questions? Post them below :smile:

Scroll to see replies

Original post by Blueberry latte
I just got my AS result today and they are pretty bad.
I just did CIE AS in Biology and Chemistry. I got a C and D respectively. Definitely not happy with it. I won't resit as I have seen some student's getting the same grade after resit. Instead I will do both biology am chemistry privately.
What I want to know is there still chance to get a better grade after A2? Then i want to hopefully do Maths AS and do UKCAT.

Will this be good enough to do medicine in a good UK university such as Queen Mary?


I'm sorry, but I'm having trouble understanding what you are trying to say. Are you planning to learn biology and chemistry privately and retake the AS exams while doing A2? Are you saying that you're planning on, in total, doing just chemistry and biology to A2 and maths to AS?

All UK medical schools require at least AAA at A2, this means you have to do at least 3 complete A2 subjects.
To bring your current grades up to As you would need to retake the AS papers as well as get A grades in the A2 papers.
Any resits you do would have to be done within the normal 2 years that it takes to do A-levels, most medical schools (including 'Queen Mary' - the med school is actually called Barts and the London) do not allow resits that make your total time to achieve your 3 A2s more than 2 years. Barts (like many medical schools) also require a 4th AS subject in addition to the 3 A2s, so their minimum requirement is AAAb.

I would advise against applying with your current grades as they are not acceptable. You may be able to get a better grade at A2, but this will depend entirely on you, and you would definitely have to resit the chemistry papers as it is simply not possible to achieve an A at A2 with a D at AS. If you can work hard enough to pull your grades up to AAA at A2 then you would be eligible to apply with your grades already achieved next year.
(edited 8 years ago)
Posted from TSR Mobile

So i should re-sit for chem? But i dnt wanna take maths in A2.
Wht else can i do? :frown: i mean im nt stupid
Just didnt revise well enough :frown: so im gonna work harder in a2 ofc
Does anyone know generally for medicine whether ones predicted grades will be provided as a conditional offer

Eg if I was successful in applying to med school, predicted A*A*A* , would my offer be AAA (as per usual) or would it be A*A*A* ?

Cheers


Posted from TSR Mobile
Pretty sure the offer would be AAA, but I think I've heard of circumstances (on TSR) when the offer is raised to be closer to your predictions. I imagine most places would make the standard offer, though.
Original post by Going_To_California
Pretty sure the offer would be AAA, but I think I've heard of circumstances (on TSR) when the offer is raised to be closer to your predictions. I imagine most places would make the standard offer, though.


That's great. So would you say it would be logical to lobby ones teachers to give the highest predicted grades possible?


Posted from TSR Mobile
Original post by Carnationlilyrose
I'm not sure why you think resitting as a private candidate will make a difference to your grade. It will make some things harder - practical assessments, for example. You can certainly improve on your grades by resitting, but it would be better to do it by being taught, in my view.

I have to be honest here and say that those grades are not going to cut it for medicine and resitting doesn't solve the problem always. I'll move this into the medicine forum for others to add to this.


Why won't resitting solve OPs AS problem?
Original post by Angelo12231
Why won't resitting solve OPs AS problem?


Edit - disregard, I misread the wiki
(edited 8 years ago)
Reply 8
Original post by Akyıl
As far as I know about the entry requirements about medicine and Queen Mary which is an uni amongst the top in UK, you cannot even apply? Please correct me if I am wrong and btw some unis do not even accept resits :frown:


You can resit as much as you want in the 2 year A level period. The problem is when it takes longer than 2 years. There is also a loophole where one can change the secondary school qualification ie IB after horrendous a level results and still get in.

Also:
I studied medicine at Barts and the London (queen Mary) and if that here is considered to be "good" then I would be worried about the national standards.

Also2:
Don't focus on one university. Don't even focus on the UK. You have to do everything to get into medicine even if it means you study abroad. Thats the mentality a lot of applicants are missing.

I dont know how to help. What is even CIE? changing exam boards might def help though
(edited 8 years ago)
Reply 9
First of all, don't give up. Learn from your mistakes and try harder next time. In first year I got CDEU then worked my arse off in A2 year and left with BBB. I know they're not the grades you need for medicine or even be seen as good by most of TSR but I'm proud of myself for knuckling down and working hard in the end.
Reply 10
You must get AAA at A2. If you cannot be predicted these results, then take a gap year after A2 so that you can apply with achieved grades :smile: rankings of med schools don't matter, you are still getting the same degree, but their policies on resits and ultimately whether you can be accepted will matter a huge amount. Try to keep all exams within two years, otherwise you would hugely limit your options
Reply 11
Original post by Potally_Tissed
Because many medical schools don't consider resits at all, and pretty much all of the rest only allow them if there are extenuating circumstances. If the only reason you're resitting is because you didn't work hard enough first time around, you're kind of stuffed.


From what I've found, most medical schools do allow some resits, as long as they are kept within the two years of study :smile: resitting every module is of course frowned upon, but individual modules are usually acceptable
Original post by Potally_Tissed
Because many medical schools don't consider resits at all, and pretty much all of the rest only allow them if there are extenuating circumstances. If the only reason you're resitting is because you didn't work hard enough first time around, you're kind of stuffed.


You can resist AS levels as long as it doesn't take more than two years


Posted from TSR Mobile
Original post by Potally_Tissed
Because many medical schools don't consider resits at all, and pretty much all of the rest only allow them if there are extenuating circumstances. If the only reason you're resitting is because you didn't work hard enough first time around, you're kind of stuffed.

I thought you can resit AS levels? Im pretty sure you can
You can resit your AS examinations aswell as do your A2 examinations in the summer 2016 sitting.
However, that will be that last time this current spec will be running.
I got my AS level results today, I got AAA in maths, biology and religious studies however I got a B in chemistry. I got 8A*s and 2A's at GCSE. Can I still apply to medical school?
Original post by peggytree
I got my AS level results today, I got AAA in maths, biology and religious studies however I got a B in chemistry. I got 8A*s and 2A's at GCSE. Can I still apply to medical school?


Uni's will require you to get an A in chemistry at A2. As long as you can get predicted an A and achieve it, you should be fine. Just make sure you apply to universities that don't consider AS grades and only look at predicted.

Congratulations on the results!
Original post by Ezme39
From what I've found, most medical schools do allow some resits, as long as they are kept within the two years of study :smile: resitting every module is of course frowned upon, but individual modules are usually acceptable


Original post by SimpsP
You can resist AS levels as long as it doesn't take more than two years


Posted from TSR Mobile


Original post by Angelo12231
I thought you can resit AS levels? Im pretty sure you can


Apologies, I was going off this page but misread the second column, it's referring to resits outside the normal two years of study.
I have just received my AS results and I plan on applying to medicine in September.
I received: A (law) A (health and social) B (biology) B (citizenship) and C (chemistry).
Overall I am happy apart from Biology and Chemistry which I am gutted.
I am planning to resit the biology EMPA (if i can) to bring it up to a A - however I am completely unsure what to do about chemistry or even to continue with the idea of doing medicine?
I am 4 and 2 UMS marks on both papers from the next grade boundary so I am unsure if it is worth a remark?
Original post by meggallison
I have just received my AS results and I plan on applying to medicine in September.
I received: A (law) A (health and social) B (biology) B (citizenship) and C (chemistry).
Overall I am happy apart from Biology and Chemistry which I am gutted.
I am planning to resit the biology EMPA (if i can) to bring it up to a A - however I am completely unsure what to do about chemistry or even to continue with the idea of doing medicine?
I am 4 and 2 UMS marks on both papers from the next grade boundary so I am unsure if it is worth a remark?



Definitely worth a remark. You need to get predicted an A in chemistry and then resit in A2 year and GET an A in chemistry. There is only 1 uni that will take someone without it (UEA I think).
Beg your teachers for predictions of AAA and smash next year. You can apply for universities that look at predicted grades over AS results too. Or get your AAA grades and reapply with grades in hand during your gap year. You haven't lost hope yet!

There are access courses with lower requirements too if you meet socioeconomic criteria - Look into Kings EDMP, BM6 at Southampton, UEA, Leeds etc.


Congrats on your results though. They're really good! Medicine just needs insane grades annoyingly.

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